AlJazeera.Net (Qatar) : "Refugees expect little from Fatah" par Nisreen El-Shamayleh

Refugees expect little from Fatah

 By Nisreen El-Shamayleh in Amman, Jordan

Al-Baqaa refugee camp is home to more than 80,000 Palestinian refugees   [GALLO/GETTY]

As Fatah convenes its long-awaited sixth general conference in Bethlehem, some Palestinian refugees in Jordan say they are not expecting anything positive to emerge from the movement that once represented them.

Fatah was originally established by Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian president, with a charter that called for armed struggle against Israel.

But decades later, many refugees believe that the movement's original mandate has been distorted by Western and Israeli pressure to transform it into a 'peace partner'.

Many say that a series of concessions have led to a drop in the movement's popularity in the camps and some I spoke with said they were not at all interested in the conference.

They believe the Palestinian Authority (PA) had long ago sidestepped its responsibilities and that Fatah will likely not address issues related to refugees at the Bethlehem meeting.

Distrust in leadership

Ismael is a former Fatah fighter but he says the movement no longer represents him

Jordan's Palestinian refugee camps used to be a stronghold for Fatah fighters but that mood has changed.

I visited the home of 77-year-old Sheikh Ismael Abu Hmeidan, a former fighter in Fatah's armed al-Asifa wing who has been living in exile in the al-Baqaa refugee camp for the past 50 years.

He lived through the Nakba, the 1967 war and spent eight years in a Jordanian prison for being a member of the Arab Communist party.

In 1972, he joined Fatah.

Abu Hmeidan told me that he had turned down an..............
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http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/08/2009854295115..........



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